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‘Money Shot: The Pornhub Story’ Review: A Clear Eye on an Industry

This documentary looks at the offenses of the pornography industry through interviews with performers and activists.

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By Natalia Winkelman

In December 2020, the journalist Nicholas Kristof wrote a column in the Opinion section of The New York Times detailing the stories of young survivors whose sexual abuse was posted on the website Pornhub. The piece, which urged the site to make changes, led to Pornhub’s banning of uploads from unverified users, and to Visa and Mastercard’s prohibiting the use of their cards on the website. Kristof’s article plays a complicated role in “Money Shot: The Pornhub Story,” a documentary on Netflix that shrewdly puts center stage some of the professional porn performers seeking autonomy in the industry.

Through interviews with workers and their advocates (and with Kristof), the documentary filmmaker Suzanne Hillinger (who also produced and directed episodes of The Times’s “The Weekly,” a television show on FX, in 2019) persuasively argues that campaigns including Traffickinghub are aimed at curtailing abuse and helping victims but end up hurting another marginalized group: the sex workers and porn actors who thrive on these platforms, which enable them to work independently. Hillinger also spotlights the fact that some of the loudest anti-Pornhub voices have ties to the extreme political right‌.

Recent years have seen a slew of streaming documentaries about tech-world horrors, from dating hoaxes to crypto schemes. “Money Shot” includes some clichés from this subgenre — if I see one more tweet pop up onscreen with the chirp sound effect, I will fly away myself — but it mostly pushes against tropes. Hillinger steers clear of re-enactments, and instead favors relaxed scenes with porn professionals. Here is a documentary that casts a clear eye on the offenses of an industry driven by capitalism while never losing sight of the workers whose safety and success should be that profession’s number one priority.

Money Shot: The Pornhub Story Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes. Watch on Netflix.

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Money shot: the pornhub story.

Money Shot: The Pornhub Story movie poster: Front of a woman shown from the nose to mid-thigh region, with shoulder-length, straight blonde hair, floral body tattoos, and mouth slightly open, wearing an animal-print thong and matching top and graphic-created hand-like images that cover the breast and vaginal areas

  • Common Sense Says
  • Parents Say 0 Reviews
  • Kids Say 2 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Sabrina McFarland

In-depth docu looks at online sex site; language, violence.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Money Shot : The Pornhub Story is a documentary about the adult entertainment website. Images and references include sexual objectification and allegations of sex trafficking, abuse, and assault of men, women, teens, and kids, rape, masturbation, nudity, revenge pornography,…

Why Age 15+?

Images and references include sexual objectification and allegations of sex traf

References and images include blurred sex scenes, frontal and backside nudity, c

Swear words include "ass," "a--hole," "balls," bulls--t," "f--k," and "f---ing."

Allegations of kids being drugged, bottles of champagne, cans of beer, cocktails

References and images include video equipment, computers, smartphones, porn publ

Any Positive Content?

Addresses the proposed need for better monitoring of content and use of identity

Yiota Souras, Senior VP & General Counsel for the National Center for Missin

Images include BIPOC and White young and older adult, trans, and LGBTQ+ individu

Violence & Scariness

Images and references include sexual objectification and allegations of sex trafficking, abuse, and assault of men, women, teens, and kids, rape, revenge pornography, blurred explicit sexual acts, porn piracy, verbal bullying, racketeering charges, arson, blackmailing, choking, and stalking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

References and images include blurred sex scenes, frontal and backside nudity, couples engaging in sex, kissing, masturbation, sex toys, scantily clad men and women, same-sex marriage, reproductive rights, simulated ejaculation, and sex workers.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Swear words include "ass," "a--hole," "balls," bulls--t," "f--k," and "f---ing." Other terms include "booty calls," "c--k," "d--k," "p---y," "slut," "snitch," "t-ts," "t-tties," and "whore." There are also mentions of explicit sexual acts involving "fisting" and an "orgy."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Allegations of kids being drugged, bottles of champagne, cans of beer, cocktails, and a weed-selling website advertisement.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

References and images include video equipment, computers, smartphones, porn publications and websites, erotic TV channels, and credit cards.

Positive Messages

Addresses the proposed need for better monitoring of content and use of identity verification to access pornographic websites. Teach kids and teens about how to engage in careful use of social media sites.

Positive Role Models

Yiota Souras, Senior VP & General Counsel for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), a private nonprofit organization whose mission is to help find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation, and prevent child victimization, supports the possible need for online safety and monitoring of use on adult entertainment websites. Award-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof expresses concern about Pornhub's alleged sex abuse allegations against kids and writes an investigative article to bring awareness to the public about the behavior of the company. Laila Mickelwait is an activist who leads a global movement of protests and online campaign funding to close Pornhub for its alleged involvement in the sex trafficking, abuse, and assault of men, women, and kids.

Diverse Representations

Images include BIPOC and White young and older adult, trans, and LGBTQ+ individuals who engage in occupations such as the pornography industry, law enforcement, investigative journalism, and filmmaking. Representation includes Suzanne Hillinger, who is a White lesbian and the documentary's director. White veteran journalists Nicholas Kristof and Martin Patriquin report about allegations of sex abuse on the global website Pornhub. Asa Akira, who identifies as Japanese American, and Natassia Dreams, an African American who is trans, are Pornhub Ambassadors.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Parents need to know that Money Shot : The Pornhub Story is a documentary about the adult entertainment website. Images and references include sexual objectification and allegations of sex trafficking, abuse, and assault of men, women, teens, and kids, rape, masturbation, nudity, revenge pornography, blurred views of explicit sex acts, sex toys, verbal bullying, a weed-selling website advertisement, bottles of champagne, cans of beer, and cocktails. Language includes "ass," "a--hole," "balls," "bulls--t," "f--k," and "f---ing," as well as "booty calls," "c--k," "d--k," "p---y," "slut," "snitch," "t-ts," "t-tties," and "whore." There are also mentions of sexual acts involving "fisting" and an "orgy." The documentary's main theme is the proposed need for better monitoring of content and use of identity verification to access pornography websites. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Still from Money Shot: The Pornhub Story: Siri Dahl, who is White and is identified as a porn performer, has a smartphone conversation with a client, wearing a pale pink top that matches her hair of a similar color

Parent and Kid Reviews

  • Parents say
  • Kids say (2)

There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.

What's the Story?

MONEY SHOT: THE PORNHUB STORY is a documentary about the Canadian website's initial launch by three college students in 2007. Under new ownership, Pornhub becomes the global epicenter for the online sex industry. The film shares firsthand interviews that include employees, activists, and law officials, blurred sexually explicit images, and debates such as the right to make consensual porn and underage content use.

Is It Any Good?

This documentary addresses the importance of monitoring the use of adult entertainment websites by kids and teens. "I was 11 and I went on to Pornhub and I wanted to be surprised and I really was," recalls Noelle Perdue, a porn industry professional who once worked at the website, in Money Shot : The Pornhub Story . The first image of porn that Perdue observed was an explicit group sex scene. She says that it "set the tone how extreme things could be on the internet."

Yiota Souras, Senior VP & General Counsel for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an organization that helps find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation, and prevent child victimization, says that "operating a pornography website, like any other social media website, is almost like operating a firecracker factory. You're creating an explosive situation for the most vulnerable members of our population."

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the communication of the cast in Money Shot : The Pornhub Story . How do they also demonstrate courage and teamwork ? Why are these important character strengths ?

In what ways should kids and teens be careful in social media site use?

Can identify verification stop viewing of adult entertainment websites by underage users? Do you agree or disagree, and why?

What do you think about the documentary's conclusion? Do you agree or disagree with the outcome of the decisions made? Why?

Movie Details

  • On DVD or streaming : March 15, 2023
  • Cast : Asa Akira , Nicholas Kristof , Noelle Purdue
  • Director : Suzanne Hillinger
  • Inclusion Information : Female actors
  • Studio : Netflix
  • Genre : Documentary
  • Topics : Activism , Friendship , History
  • Character Strengths : Communication , Courage , Teamwork
  • Run time : 94 minutes
  • MPAA rating : NR
  • Last updated : August 29, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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Pornhub Documentary ‘Money Shot’ Chronicles Its Sex Trafficking and Censorship Scandals

By Ethan Shanfeld

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Money Shot: The Pornhub Story

Netflix ‘s upcoming documentary “ Money Shot ” tells the story of one of the world’s most-visited websites — Pornhub .

Featuring interviews with sex workers, activists and ex-employees of the porn giant, the film, premiering March 15, “offers a deep dive into the successes and scandals of Pornhub,” per Netflix.

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As activist organizations fought against Pornhub to protect victims of sex trafficking, adult performers simultaneously battled for their livelihoods as a new wave of censorship threatened their consensual porn.

“It’s not just an attack on porn,” says another interview subject. “It’s an attack on people being able to express themselves.”

As a performer interviewed in the documentary says, “If it wasn’t for porn, I probably wouldn’t be alive.”

“Money Shot: The Pornhub Story” is directed by Suzanne Hillinger, who produces alongside Jigsaw Productions and Nicki Carrico. Stacey Offman and Richard Perello executive produce, while Erin Edeiken serves as supervising producer. “Money Shot” is edited by Alexis Johnson, Iris Ng serves as DP and Kyle Scott Wilson is the composer.

Watch the trailer below.

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Netflix’s Money Shot: The Pornhub Story Trailer Examines Porn And Puts Sex Workers In The Spotlight

The internet giant's operations are under intense scrutiny in this new documentary.

Porn is a subject that has always been, and just might always be, a hot button issue. One of the reasons is that the industry providing that entertainment sometimes puts people in danger, if it doesn’t exploit them outright. With Netflix’s 2023 new movie release Money Shot: The PornHub Story , the streaming giant is about to put sex workers in the spotlight, as it examines the effect that the prolific pornography site has had on society, among other things. 

Through interviews with sex workers, advocates, and various figures, Money Shot: The PornHub story is going to cover just about everything you’d expect. From the site’s rise to power, up until the present day, the story of how this pop culture touchstone came to be a brand name will be revealed. With that task comes both lighthearted stories about how people were first exposed to porn, as well as dissections of the very real threat of sex trafficking and other serious issues that tend to present themselves. 

Making a living through porn is also part of what Money Shot: The PornHub Story is trying to discuss as well. In the trailer above, we hear sex workers who use the platform discussing how their livelihood comes from posting videos to the more adult cousin of YouTube. 

This subject in particular will be interesting to observe, as PornHub’s massive policy change back in 2020 saw a huge change to the site that impacted creators in a negative manner. Also of note is the potential discussion of how smaller creators have struggled in a marketplace where directors like Bella Thorne have broken taboos by starting to compete for that same market.

As PornHub has been around since 2008, there’s a lot of the site’s history that people might not know about just yet. It’s only been in the past couple of years that this platform has become a huge cultural touchstone, thanks in part to the increase of pornographic viewing during the 2020 lockdown . When a porn sharing site becomes big enough to , as well as have a press site devoted solely to analytics that detail things like how much porn viewership dropped during Fallout 4's launch , you know it's a big deal.

Both the dark and light sides of porn have been known to the world since the beginnings of the genre, with technological advances only changing the story through the methodology at hand. Thanks to Money Shot: The PornHub Story , the world at large is about to get a better understanding of how the age of the internet has been a boost and a detriment to that age old business. Let’s hope this experience also helps to destigmatize the sex workers who use this platform, while also better protecting them at the same time.

Money Shot premieres on March 15th. Don’t forget to check out the full rundown of new movies and TV shows on Netflix , which reveals the rest of March’s incoming debuts on that very same platform. 

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Money Shot: The Pornhub Story (2023) Stream and Watch Online

Watch 'money shot: the pornhub story' online.

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Looking to watch ' Money Shot: The Pornhub Story ' on your TV, phone, or tablet? Hunting down a streaming service to buy, rent, download, or view the Suzanne Hillinger-directed movie via subscription can be difficult, so we here at Moviefone want to do the work for you. We've listed a number of streaming and cable services - including rental, purchase, and subscription options - along with the availability of 'Money Shot: The Pornhub Story' on each platform when they are available. Now, before we get into the fundamentals of how you can watch 'Money Shot: The Pornhub Story' right now, here are some finer points about the Jigsaw Productions documentary flick. Released March 15th, 2023, 'Money Shot: The Pornhub Story' stars Noelle Perdue , Martin Patriquin , Gwen Adora , Dani Pinter The R movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 35 min, and received a user score of 56 (out of 100) on TMDb, which compiled reviews from 283 well-known users. Interested in knowing what the movie's about? Here's the plot: "Featuring interviews with performers, activists and past employees, this documentary offers a deep dive into the successes and scandals of Pornhub." 'Money Shot: The Pornhub Story' is currently available to rent, purchase, or stream via subscription on Netflix , and Netflix basic with Ads .

'Money Shot: The Pornhub Story' Release Dates

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Review: Keira Knightley pursues the ‘Boston Strangler’ in Hulu journalistic thriller

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‘Boston Strangler’

Like “Zodiac” and “Spotlight,” the moody true-crime drama “Boston Strangler” is a journalism story rooted in cultural history, looking back at how the customs of a particular time and place affected the way newspaper reporters covered a high-profile case. The investigation here involved one of the nation’s most infamous serial killers: a rapist and murderer who terrorized Boston in the early 1960s. Keira Knightley plays Loretta McLaughlin, the real-life reporter who — with the help of her police sources — found a pattern in the crimes.

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‘Boston Strangler.’ R , for some violent content and language. 1 hour, 52 minutes. Available on Hulu

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‘Money Shot: The Pornhub Story’

Too many documentary projects these days turn a feature film’s worth of content into a tedious multi-part series; but director Suzanne Hillinger’s 94-minute “Money Shot: The Pornhub Story” should really be longer, given how much ground it covers. Hillinger touches on the history of internet pornography, the ways free porn has both hurt and helped adult performers and the various campaigns to kill the website Pornhub. Her main focus is on the latter: the complicated back and forth between the sex workers trying to make a living and the activists determined to dismantle their platforms.

“Money Shot” gives that story its due. While Hillinger clearly seems more sympathetic to the models, she does let the opposition make its case cogently. The film acknowledges the real problem of crowd-sourced porn sites making money from scenes of nonconsensual sex (and then hesitating to remove them). The question “Money Shot” asks is whether this should prevent willing adults from selling pictures of their bodies online. This is a tricky topic, and Hillinger sometimes strays too far away from it, indulging in sexually explicit digressions that are more titillating than germane. For the most part, though, this is a thoughtful look at a controversy unlikely to fade away, so long as modern technology and prurient interests continue to exist.

‘Money Shot: The Pornhub Story.’ TV-MA , for child abuse references, language, nudity, sexual violence references and sex. 1 hour, 34 minutes. Available on Netflix

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“The Magician’s Elephant” is an animated adaption of a Kate DiCamillo children’s novel, about an orphan (Noah Jupe) who has to complete a series of impossible tasks in order to find his long-lost sister. A stellar voice cast — including Mandy Patinkin, Aasif Mandvi, Natasia Demetriou, Brian Tyree Henry and Benedict Wong — adds color and variety to this fantastical tale, aimed at inspiring viewers to embrace hope. Available on Netflix; also playing theatrically, Bay Theater, Pacific Palisades

“Are You Lonesome Tonight?” is a Chinese neo-noir about a young air conditioning repairman (Eddie Peng) who gets involved in a hit-and-run accident and feels so guilty about it that he befriends his victim’s widow (Sylvia Chang) — only to find that the man he ran over was in deep trouble with some bad people. First-time feature filmmaker Wen Shipei gets too arty with this story at times, with his scrambled timeline and atmospheric scene-setting; but the picture looks beautiful, and at its best recalls the genre-bending, uniquely personal work of Wong Kar-wai. Available on VOD

Available now on DVD and Blu-ray

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“A Man Called Otto” is a remake of a 2015 Swedish film (based on a Fredrik Backman novel) about a bitter crank whose outlook on life brightens a bit when he’s called upon to help his neighbors. Tom Hanks plays the title character in a funny and heartwarming performance that helped make the movie a surprise box-office hit. Sony

“The Whale” features Brendan Fraser’s Oscar-winning performance as a reclusive man whose self-loathing and unhealthy eating habits have pushed him to the brink of dying. Before he checks out permanently, he tries to make things right in the two most important relationships in his life: with his estranged daughter (Sadie Sink) and with his best friend Liz (Hong Chau, an Oscar nominee for this role). Lionsgate; also playing theatrically in limited release

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The Watchers Review: The Shyamalan Family’s Love Of A Twist Ending Ruins A Fascinating Horror

The watchers' creatures explained: history, powers, & what they look like, i'm excited for alien: romulus, but i'm still waiting for a sequel to divisive $240 million movie.

The 2024 horror movie The Watchers is set in Ireland, but its beautiful settings and deep, dark forests have led people to wonder where it was actually filmed. The Watchers , now streaming on Max , was the directorial debut of M. Night Shyamalan's daughter, Ishana Shyamalan . It follows Dakota Fanning's lead character, Mina. Mina is an American artist living in Galway, Ireland. When she's driving through a remote, forested part of Ireland, her car breaks down and she finds herself trapped in a cabin with three other people while malevolent creatures outside threaten to kill them.

Like all of the best dark fairytales and folklore movies, The Watchers , based on the book by A.M. Shine , makes liberal use of a forest setting. While some city locations were used, as well as soundstages, the film shoot benefited from the natural beauty of Ireland's ancient forests. While not a lot of information is available about where exact scenes were shot, a little bit of digging does uncover info about where in Ireland certain scenes in The Watchers took place.

Dakota Fanning holds her hand up to mirror in The Watchers movie still

There is no rationale for The Watchers’ ending; it switches gears, as though afraid we’d come too close to something that made a bit more sense.

Used For Early City Scenes In The Movie

Dakota Fanning looking shocked as Georgina Campbell with imagery from The Watchers behind her

Dublin, the capital city of the Republic of Ireland, is a beautiful city on the East Coast of the country. As such, it was used for the movie's Act I scenes where Mina is living her life in the city , not yet having traveled to the forested, more remote areas of Ireland. The movie features Dublin's historic buildings and old sites full of parks and marketplaces and cultural markers to help establish the setting.

It's a cosmopolitan city, but with Dublin's ancient history dating back to the time it was known as Dubh Linn, it hints at the wilder, more primal parts of Ireland Mina has yet to encounter. The city is no doubt beautiful and vibrant, but it's exactly that beauty that lulls the viewer (and Mina) into a false sense of security , setting up the rest of the movie once her nightmare begins.

Various City Scenes & Some Landscape Forest Locations

Nina holding her birdcage, walking down the street in The Watchers

The Galway region was the second shooting area of The Watchers , and the locations used were to supplement the city scenes shot in Dublin. Galway's famous Kirwan's Lane, Quay Street, and Cross Street areas were all used for various city exterior shots , and a few interior ones, as well. The scene where Mina gets into her Jeep and drives off for her assignment to the forest was shot in front of the Electric Nightclub on Abbeygate Street Upper. A closed building that formerly housed a business known as Griffin's Bakery on Shop Street was painted green and repurposed to become the pet shop where Mina gets the parrot. (via Galway Beo )

Galway also did double duty thanks to its picturesque landscape, as well. Galway is known for its wild, rugged coastline, including the famous Cliffs of Moher and Connemara. Thus, the gorgeous natural scenery of Galway was used in a few external shots. The same goes for its wooded parks and forested areas, which were used for some of the forest scenes in The Watchers .

imagery-from-The-Watchers-1

The terrifying creatures that haunt the woods in The Watchers have a backstory based on a legendary race of creatures from real-world folklore.

Most Of The Scary Forest Scenes Were Shot Here

The majority of the creepy forest scenes were shot in Wicklow, Ireland. Wicklow is known for its primeval, moss-laden forests that immediately conjure up images of monstrous creatures and malevolent faeries; Ballinastoe Forest, in particular, has an ancient, magical feel that has made it a popular shooting location. As such, Wicklow's lush forests were the perfect location to shoot the scenes where Mina and the others were trapped in the unforgiving, dark forest. Additional scenes in The Watchers were also filmed on a soundstage in Bray, Wicklow at Ardmore Studios.

The Watchers 2024 Film Poster

The Watchers

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Based on A.M. Shine's novel, The Watchers follows Mina, a twenty-eight-year-old artist stranded in the middle of a forest in Ireland. Her momentary relief when she finds shelter is shattered when she discovers other strangers in the same predicament - but they're stalked each night by unseen creatures.

The Watchers

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13 mind-blowing money stats behind Scottie Scheffler’s historic season

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Scottie Scheffler's $60 million season comes with some historic weight.

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There’s never a bad time for a historic season, but Scottie Scheffler’s career year was unquestionably well-timed.

Some day, golf historians will look back at Scheffler’s ascent to World No. 1 as the twin flame to the explosion of golf’s money era . And when they look at that ascent, their conversations will begin with the 2024 season.

Scheffler won eight times in ’24, including a Masters victory, an Olympic gold medal, and a season-closing triumph at the big-money Tour Championship. Those are gaudy numbers, earned at lofty events, but somehow they underlie the most impressive number of Scheffler’s 2024: the one staring back from his bank account.

The World No. 1 earned more than $62 million in 2024, including bonuses from the FedEx Cup Playoffs and Comcast Business Top 10. That’s the highest-earning season in PGA Tour history, a number two times more than the next-highest earner on the PGA Tour (Xander Schauffele, $29 million) and dwarfing even the most profitable seasons in the remainder of the PGA Tour’s five-decade history.

Indeed, only the bloated (and still largely unofficial) signing bonuses of LIV Golf can compare to Scheffler’s earnings in a single season, and even then, the numbers don’t quite compare. With his $25 million payday from the Tour Championship, nobody can claim to have won as much money in a single season from competing in golf tournaments in the history of the sport. And, in fact, the numbers aren’t even particularly close.

With that in mind, let’s dive into some of the craziest numbers from the year that was for Scheffler.

13 mind-blowing money stats from Scottie Scheffler’s 2024 season

$62,228,357: Scottie Scheffler’s official on-course earnings from the 2024 PGA Tour season.

7: Total number of players in PGA Tour history who have earned more than Scheffler’s 2024 earnings in their entire career . (Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh, Adam Scott, Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth.)

$3,275,176.68: Scheffler’s earnings per tournament start in 2024.

$818,794.11: Scheffler’s earnings per tournament round in 2024.

$12,039.32: Scheffler’s earnings per shot in 2024.

$37,500: Scheffler’s on-course earnings from winning Olympic gold, paid out by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

$37,500: Scheffler’s smallest tournament paycheck of the 2024 season.

190: Players on the PGA Tour money list who earned less in 2024 than Scottie Scheffler’s tournament average earnings.

48: Players on the PGA Tour money list who earned more in 2024 than Scottie Scheffler’s tournament average.

$61,729,067: Total cumulative earnings of the bottom 142 players on the PGA Tour money list in 2024.

Meaning: Scottie Scheffler earned more in 2024 than the bottom 142 players on the PGA Tour money list … combined.

$5,734,031 : Jack Nicklaus’ career on-course earnings.

476: The number of shots it took Scottie Scheffler to pass Jack Nicklaus’ career on-course earnings in 2024, when averaging Scheffler’s earnings over the entire season.

7: Number of rounds, exactly, it took Scottie Scheffler to pass Jack Nicklaus’ career on-course earnings in 2024, when averaging Scheffler’s earnings over the entire season.

Practice hard, kids!

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‘Harvest’ Review: Athina Rachel Tsangari Sublimates Her Voice in Gorgeous, Overlong Period Fable

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The announcement of a third feature, “Harvest,” world premiering at Venice, nine years on from “Chevalier,” was cause for genuine excitement among Tsangari heads. Forays into a TV miniseries (“Trigonometry” in 2020) and regular producing gigs have been no substitute for a feature film brewed in her singular mind palace. So, how does “Harvest” stack up? Related Stories The 17 Best Thrillers Streaming on Netflix in September, from ‘Fair Play’ to ‘Emily the Criminal’ Jenna Ortega Says Female ‘Spinoff’ Twists on Male Franchises Isn’t Progress: ‘I Don’t Want to See’ a ‘Jamie Bond’ Movie

At first glance, it seems like Tsangari has totally switched things up. Her first literary adaptation (both previous films were her original ideas) plunges us into the world dreamed up by novelist Jim Crace. In an unspecified village in the wilds of Scotland on the cusp of industrial change, Walter Thirsk (Caleb Landry-Jones) is in love with land. He forages bugs from trees, then skinny-dips in a deserted lake. On returning to his village, he finds it is on fire.

As with many of the dramatic events in “Harvest” the medium is the message with imagery that further burnishes the reputation of rising DP star Sean Price Williams. Having first captured the serenity of this place through Walter’s solo revelry, now he captures its ashy filth and danger. This is a film with a comprehensive visual grammar that does not settle for one viewpoint of its absorbing setting. A sense of the charming creativity of living so close to the land is felt when a young girl paints her face using the yellow of a buttercup — she is vying to be crowned “Gleaning Queen.” 

In this remote place, Walter is an outsider among outsiders. He is distrusted by most of the villagers, save lover Kitty (Rosy McEwen) because of his friendship with Master Kent (Harry Melling), another soft man but the closest thing to an authority figure here. Walter’s mother was Master Kent’s milk nurse and they shared childhoods. Adulthood has united them in another way, for they are now both widowers and grief clings to the edges of their respective solitudes. 

They are both out-of-step with the herd when three strangers are found by the lake and the villagers descend — locking the two men in the pillory and shaving the head of the woman. Master Kent does not know how to use the pillory key and hesitates, nervously. Melling oozes the quiet desperation of a boy in over his head, complicating and enriching his character’s objective position of power. 

Head shaved, Beldam is let go. With her friends in the pillory, she does not go far. Walter often spots her running hither and thither, seeming free in contrast with the increasingly preoccupied villagers for a harbinger of change has arrived in the form of the map-maker Quill (Arinzé Kene).

The plot is very much not the point of “Harvest,” and a deliberate vagueness surrounds key events. Later, a man dies, and who’s to say whether it was from murder, suicide or exposure to the elements. We see through Walter’s eyes, who is rarely around when key things happen and frequently unsure of how he can intervene for the better. “Some hero you are, Walter Thirsk,” bellows the man with the leg wound, with contempt. His point stands, although the film treats Walter’s relative ineffectiveness softly, as it does Master Kent’s. There is a sweetness to Tsangari’s depiction of men who technically have power but are too hesitant to make it count. 

Despite its intentionality, the vagueness of the plot stretched across 130 minutes becomes testing. There is an underwritten aspect to the way that racial tensions are presented, alternately ignored and hinted at without a cohesive perspective. Although made up of many mesmerizing moving parts, “Harvest” ends up as feeling less than the sum of these. There are sparks of what makes an Athina Rachel Tsangari film great within this impressionistic period fable, even if — unlike the fires that bookend the film — it never fully takes the blaze.

“Harvest” world premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival . It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Summons Tim Burton’s Creative Juices Back

The juice is loose and Tim Burton's mojo is back.

It’s no secret that Tim Burton’s recent films aren’t as great as they used to be. Since the mid-2000s, the Edward Scissorhands director has been all but sleepwalking through his career, with a series of uninspired fantasy films and Disney adaptations that felt like vague approximations of his singular gothic style. It’s one of the curses of being boxed into a specific visual brand — like his cohort Wes Anderson , Burton can never get away from being, well, Tim Burton.

So why not go back to one of his earliest, and most bizarre, successes? Burton’s 1989 classic Beetlejuice was the director’s first major commercial hit and the movie that cemented his signature style. To this day, it remains an eccentric high point for the director — wildly creative, shockingly crass, and a little bit weird for a mainstream family-friendly hit. Its terrifically tactile marriage of Burton’s macabre style with a wonderfully wacky, outsized performance from Michael Keaton helped create a cinematic icon that belongs in the annals of movie history, never to be touched again. But because we live in an era where IP rules all, Beetlejuice is back, and the result is, surprisingly, a total blast.

Beetlejuice Winona Ryder Jenna Ortega

Lydia and Astrid’s failed relationship forms the surprisingly sweet emotional core of the movie.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has all the cynical pretenses of the dreaded legasequel , but thanks to its dedication to the original’s gonzo practical effects and another top-tier performance from Keaton (who looks like he never took off that electricity-fried wig and striped suit), it’s the most energized film Burton has made in over a decade. Turns out that returning to the Netherworld was exactly what the director needed to get his creative juices flowing again.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice takes place 36 years after the events of the 1998 original, with Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz now a renowned host of a ghost-hunting TV show. She and her stepmother Delia (Catherine O'Hara, fabulously channeling her Schitt’s Creek diva Moira Rose) haven’t set foot in the old Maitland house for years, but they’re brought back unexpectedly after Lydia’s father Charles (Jeffrey Jones in the original, who was wisely not brought back for the sequel) is slaughtered in a freak plane crash/shark attack. Lydia drags her estranged daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega, comfortably at home as a sullen teen) back to the house to help clean it out, but their return accidentally unearths Beetlejuice, who is still intent on making Lydia his bride — especially now that his old ex-wife Delores (Monica Bellucci, sultry and sinister) has re-emerged to claim his soul forever.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe’s ghost cop is one of the great additions to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice , which expands the Afterlife in excitingly creative ways.

It doesn’t take much to connect the dots between Lydia’s lost sense of self and Burton’s recent career. Lydia frequently proclaims herself a “sellout” and she’s haunted by visions of Beetlejuice stalking her in the real world. This arrested development becomes a clear metaphor for Burton’s creative rut.

It feels hacky for Ryder to be stuck again in her blunt-bang, birth’s nest goth look after all these years, but there’s a real heartbreak at the center of Lydia’s struggles. She’s stuck in an exploitative relationship with her producer boyfriend Rory (a slimy Justin Theroux), and Ryder’s choice of playing Lydia less as a disaffected spiritualist and more as a panicked, mentally unwell mother lends her more depth than she was afforded even in the original. Though Ryder’s performance somewhat recalls the panicked mania of Joyce in Stranger Things , it’s a relief to see her honing her chops outside of the Netflix show. Better yet, Ryder thrives opposite Ortega’s Astrid, a nonbeliever who scoffs at her mom’s career and never forgives Lydia for distancing herself after the disappearance of Astrid’s father (Santiago Cabrera). While Ortega gives the most low-key performance of the film, refreshingly playing a grounded climate activist and not a goth-girl clone of her mom, her unexpected teen romance plotline and her fraught dynamic with Lydia form the emotional core of the film, even as the antics get wilder and the stakes get more life-or-Afterlife.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Michael Keaton

Michael Keaton is unmatched as cinema’s freakiest little guy.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s most exciting innovation is its expansion of the Afterlife, whose inner workings and madcap characters become more prominent in Alfred Gough and Miles Millar’s sequel script. Burton emphasizes this world of ghoulish tedium through glimpses of a zombified, cleaner-guzzling janitor (Danny DeVito, in a brief cameo), a dilapidated dry cleaner, and a funky “Soul Train” train station that takes ghosts to the “Great Beyond.” One of the most enjoyable additions to the cast is Willem Dafoe’s Wolf Jackson, a former B-movie action star who clumsily leads the Afterlife Police Department with clichéd catchphrases and inspirational speeches written by his secretary.

But despite an expanding cast of undead ghouls, Keaton remains unmatched as Beetlejuice. he’s wild, he’s creepy, he’s impossible to look away from. The film even offers a Beetlejuice origin story, which Keaton sells in the most ridiculous way possible (hint: it involves a black-and-white Frankenstein- style flashback and flowery Spanish narration). It’s good to see Keaton back in another legacy role , but this time with the freedom to unleash his charisma in all its outlandish glory. It’s no secret Keaton had a hand in creating a lot of Beetlejuice’s weirdo personality as we know it, and so it makes sense that Keaton’s reunion with Burton is what may finally give the director his mojo back.

The sequel works thanks to Keaton’s no-holds-barred performance. But it's only a true comeback for Burton because Beetlejuice has always been about the director getting in touch with his freakiest, most unhinged instincts. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice may have been just what Tim Burton needed to bring his career back to life.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opens in theaters September 6.

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The Money Shot Reviews

No All Critics reviews for The Money Shot.

IMAGES

  1. The Money Shot (2007)

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  2. The Money Shot Review: Neil LaBute Takes Revenge On Hollywood

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  3. The Money Shot Review: Neil LaBute Takes Revenge On Hollywood

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  4. Money Shot (2016)

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  1. Money Shot: The Pornhub Story

    Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/28/23 Full Review Dan R 'Money Shot: The Pornhub Story' is the Netflix documentary not to watch with your parents! SYNOPSIS: 'Follow the rise of the ...

  2. 'Money Shot: The Pornhub Story' Review: The War Over Pornhub

    'Money Shot: The Pornhub Story' Review: A Netflix Documentary Explores the World's Reigning Porn Site and the Clampdown On It Reviewed online, March 9, 2023. Running time: 94 MIN.

  3. 'Money Shot: The Pornhub Story' Review: A Clear Eye on an Industry

    Here is a documentary that casts a clear eye on the offenses of an industry driven by capitalism while never losing sight of the workers whose safety and success should be that profession's ...

  4. Money Shot: The Pornhub Story Movie Review

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  5. Money Shot: The Pornhub Story

    Full Review | Mar 22, 2023. Sabrina McFarland Common Sense Media. This documentary addresses the importance of monitoring the use of adult entertainment websites by kids and teens. Full Review ...

  6. Money Shot: The Pornhub Story

    Money Shot: The Pornhub Story is a 2023 Netflix documentary about Pornhub and its parent company Aylo (then MindGeek). [a] It presents interview footage from sex workers, ex-Pornhub employees, journalists, and anti-sex-trafficking figures.The documentary focuses on a 2020 scandal over Pornhub hosting non-consensual pornography, including of children, and how the aftermath affected pornographic ...

  7. 'Money Shot: The Pornhub Story' review: Shedding light on the adult

    By Anna Iovine on March 15, 2023. Netflix's 'Money Shot' gives a nuanced look at the tube giant Pornhub. Credit: Netflix. In the last decade, Pornhub has exploded in terms of both brand ...

  8. Money Shot: The Pornhub Story review

    Pornhub and parent company MindGeek have repeatedly rejected allegations of criminality, but have since removed some 10mn unverified videos. Risqué title aside, Money Shot is largely serious ...

  9. Money Shot: The Pornhub Story

    Mar 23, 2023. "Money Shot," with a no-fuss journalistic evenhandedness, makes the case that the reaction against the site, though most of it came from an unassailable moral place, may have been out of balance — that it wound up hurting sex workers without actually doing anything tangible to help the victims of trafficking.

  10. Pornhub Documentary 'Money Shot' Trailer: Sex Trafficking ...

    Netflix 's upcoming documentary " Money Shot " tells the story of one of the world's most-visited websites — Pornhub. Featuring interviews with sex workers, activists and ex-employees of ...

  11. Money Shot: The Pornhub Story: 5 Things To Know Before ...

    The Documentary Is Rated TV-MA For A Plethora Of Reasons. This is a given, but Money Shot: The Pornhub Story is rated TV-MA for a plethora of reasons. These include references to child abuse ...

  12. Money Shot: The Pornhub Story, Netflix, review: a sordid tale of the

    The documentary film Money Shot (Netflix) was subtitled The Pornhub Story but really it was a tale as old as tech. Anyone who's followed the travails of Facebook, or latterly Twitter, or any one ...

  13. Netflix's Money Shot: The Pornhub Story Trailer ...

    With Netflix's 2023 new movie release Money Shot: The PornHub Story, the streaming giant is about to put sex workers in the spotlight, as it examines the effect that the prolific pornography ...

  14. Money Shot The Pornhub Story movie review: New Netflix documentary

    Money Shot The Pornhub Story movie review: New Netflix documentary takes timid approach to potentially scandalous story Money Shot The Pornhub Story review: Neither salacious nor particularly serious, Netflix's new documentary film, about the malpractices of the world's biggest porn website, struggles to justify its existence.

  15. Watch 'Money Shot: The Pornhub Story' Online

    Released March 15th, 2023, 'Money Shot: The Pornhub Story' stars Noelle Perdue, Martin Patriquin, Gwen Adora, Dani Pinter The R movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 35 min, and received a user score ...

  16. Money Shot

    Rent Money Shot on Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV. Page 1 of 5, 9 total items. The percentage of Approved Tomatometer Critics who have given this movie ...

  17. Review: 'Boston Strangler,' 'Moneyshot' are streaming highlights

    'Money Shot: The Pornhub Story' Too many documentary projects these days turn a feature film's worth of content into a tedious multi-part series; but director Suzanne Hillinger's 94-minute ...

  18. Money Shot

    When given keys to a mansion for the weekend, two friends decide to make a film but end up throwing a huge party and trashing the house. Now they race to get the "money shot" and finish their film ...

  19. Money shot

    Originally a broad term used generally in film-making, the "money shot" was simply the scene that cost the most money to produce. [2] In general, a money shot (also called a money-making shot [3]) is a provocative, sensational, or memorable sequence in a film, on which the film's commercial performance is perceived to depend. [4] The scene may or may not be a special-effects sequence, but may ...

  20. Money Shot

    Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets

  21. Where Was The Watchers Filmed? Fantasy Horror Movie's Filming Locations

    The Galway region was the second shooting area of The Watchers, and the locations used were to supplement the city scenes shot in Dublin.Galway's famous Kirwan's Lane, Quay Street, and Cross Street areas were all used for various city exterior shots, and a few interior ones, as well.The scene where Mina gets into her Jeep and drives off for her assignment to the forest was shot in front of the ...

  22. 13 mind-blowing money stats behind Scottie Scheffler's historic season

    $12,039.32: Scheffler's earnings per shot in 2024. $37,500: Scheffler's on-course earnings from winning Olympic gold, paid out by the U.S. Olympic Committee. $37,500: Scheffler's smallest ...

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    'Harvest' review: Athina Rachel Tsangari returns with Scottish fable starring Caleb Landry-Jones and shot by cinematographer Sean Price Williams.

  24. 36 Years Later, Tim Burton's Wildest Creation Just Gave the ...

    It doesn't take much to connect the dots between Lydia's lost sense of self and Burton's recent career. Lydia frequently proclaims herself a "sellout" and she's haunted by visions of ...

  25. The Money Shot

    Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets ... The Money Shot Reviews